A. Agassizii "Double Red" female colour

[Teodor Macovei]

Hi guys, I have a quick question for you, just to satisfy my curiosity.
I bought a few days ago a pair A. Agassizii "Double Red" from my lfs and the female had this colour at the moment I bought her and now, after 3 days, she didn't change at all. Is it her normal colour or is she "in the mood"?

 

[Mike Wise]

Hard to say, since she is a domestic strain. She may be just showing her dominance. Breeding/brooding females should lose their lateral band and replace it with just a lateral spot.

 

[MickeM]

Hi Teodor+ all..

Nice pics+ fishes!!
She look perfectly alright to me.. as they should do when not guarding fry..
Then they usually get that lateral spot/dot that Mike is mentioning..

If you have got any "large" catfish (Ancistrus..?) in the tank , I would recommend you to rebuild the caves/amount of sand so only the Apistos can get inside.. If you want to breed the Apistos!!??
Otherwise the eggs probably will get eaten up the first night..

It looks like they will try to reproduce quite soon!!
She is probably full of eggs??!!

Good luck !!

/Micke

 

[Teodor Macovei]

Thank you guys for the replies.
She seemed to have the lateral stripe fading and having them in a community tank (with not just 1 but 2 ancistrus ) I thought it would be better to give them a 15 gal. tank just for themselves. Now I have to figure out how to lower his aggression (probably a complete rescaping or a division net of some kind).

 

[MonteSS]

She will be kicking his butt soon enough

 

[Teodor Macovei]

I really hope so, he deserves this . So you say I shouldn't separate them?

 

[Teodor Macovei]

Quick update... this morning she lost almost entirely the stripe, so I decided to remove the screen between them. Round noon they laid eggs, she started being protective and all. This evening I found my male lying on his side, half dead, and moved him to my community tank. Guess love hurts... I really hope he recovers...